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As we age, our face begins to reflect the emotions of a lifetime. They tend to show up as wrinkles, laugh lines, saggy lips, bags under our eyes, double chins, jowls, etc. The costs of maintaining a youthful appearance enrich the plastic surgeons, cosmetic executives, and beauty gurus. But you don’t have to give them your money…
Drop the years! Look younger with a workout for your face.
My mother looks young enough to be my sister. And I suddenly realized why.
A lifetime of telling stories to kids and being the clown when it comes to parties has meant that she is constantly contorting her face, a bit too melodramatically. But, sixty years of entertaining and she doesn’t need to buy anti-wrinkle creams, or any makeup, because her skin GLOWS. Without knowing it, my mum has been a facial yoga fanatic.
While yoga has certainly been popular with those who want to lose weight, regain a supple, flexible body and achieve inner peace, it has got its growing legion of fans among the beauty conscious and age-defiant men and women who have found facial yoga especially beneficial.
Our face betrays our emotions and works overtime when we are stressed, that’s why we look older than our years.
Facial Yoga = Youthful Appearance
Facial yoga is a better, more permanent, and far less expensive way to look younger year after year… and it’s been around for thousands of years.
From the top – 5 lasting benefits of facial yoga. And you don’t even have to stand on your head.
The forehead: Erase frown lines and release your worries. This leads to a more relaxed body
The eyes: Improve your vision, relax the muscles that allow you to move your eyes around. Dry eyes, blurry vision and headaches can be eased away
The cheeks and mouth: As you age, muscle tone begins to decrease, making the face appear as if it is melting, facial yoga sets this right
The chin: Get rid of the double chin and get a sharper jawline
The neck and shoulder: Prevent a drooped posture and wrinkles on the neck
The main benefit of yoga is that it works on your mind as much as your muscles and all organs, putting right imbalances and helping your body work with peak efficiency.
No botox, no surgery, no pills and no creams. Do it regularly and couple it with full body asanas that will improve the circulation of blood to all organs and detoxify the system. Yoga can get rid of wrinkles, laugh lines, saggy lips, bags under your eyes, double chins, jowls and rejuvenate your skin. It can also improve your vision, detox your body and open up your third eye.
If you want to understand how this works, take a look at this simple illustration.
Deep breathing and relaxation. Yoga’s healing powers work on these cornerstones. Since extreme emotions, including, anger, pain, stress and self-hatred, affect how our body works, yoga works by relaxing the muscles that carry the weight of these emotions, and this banishes those negative thoughts. You can’t plot murder while smiling and breathing slowly and focusing on your third eye.
Seven incredible poses
Lion Face: Breathe slowly and hold your breath for as long as you can, stick your tongue out, open your eyes as wide as you can and maintain this posture. Try to stretch your tongue out as far at it goes. This pose increases blood circulation to the face and releases tense muscles around the mouth.
Fish face: Take a deep breath and hold it. Pucker up like a fish, suck in your cheeks and purse your lips. Now try to smile, that is, stretch your lips. It might feel uncomfortable, breathe in and out as slowly as you can.
Look sideways: Hold your head straight, breathe in, now without moving your neck, turn your eyes to the extreme right. Hold the position. After a few seconds, turn your vision to the left. This pose also feels uncomfortable because your eyes have probably exercised so much.
Play the trumpet: Take a deep breath through your mouth and hold the air in your mouth as if you were about to play the trumpet. Try holding on to this pose for 30-60 seconds. Breathe out through your nose. Laugh lines and saggy cheeks are tackled with this pose.
Calm down: Rub your hands together briskly and warm them up. Close your eyes and cup the palms over your eyes. Take a deep breath through your nose and hold it for as long as you can. The eyes will feel relaxed, and the slow breathing eases tense muscles and feelings.
Neck stretch: This pose looks a bit like the zombie dancers in the Thriller video. Tilt your head towards your right, try to touch your ear to your shoulder, without raising your shoulder. Now lift up your left hand, with the fingers still pointing to the floor, and then push the arm down, feel the neck muscles tighten.
Scrunches: Breathe in, close your eyes tight, purse the lips together as tightly as possible, without pushing them downwards, bunch up your fists and make a face as if you were scrunching your face to stop from crying. Release the pose when you need to take a breath. This relaxes the whole face.
How To Make Sure You Don’t Slump Down And Lose Inches From Your Height As You Grow Older
If you are sitting on a chair and reading this, you have to read this right through. A slumped back, hunched shoulders and waistlines that jut out and keep spreading are the bane of office workers across the globe. Bad posture is not just ugly its implications on your health are just plain dangerous.
Why Is Bad Posture Terrible For You
With bad posture, your rib cage starts pressing down on the major organs – giving them less space to function.
Your waistline gains a few inches because of that
And you lose a few inches from your height
Your stomach will jut out and dieting won’t help
You’ll suffer from back aches which won’t go away easily
Flexibility is reduced and one shoulder tends to be higher than the other
You’ll become injury prone because of poor posture.
According to some science, bad posture also leads to having more negative thoughts.
Worst of all, you’ll never feel fresh and rested even after you wake up from a good nights sleep
But, and here is the big BUT, you can’t correct bad posture by just sitting up straight. You just can’t. All you will achieve is an unnatural looking posture, a stiff(er) back, tense neck and shoulder muscles and that’s as bad as a slumped spine.
Six Tips To Rectify Your Bad Posture
The answer to bad posture is stronger muscles. A regular dose of flexibility and strengthening exercises are all you need to start with. Here are 6 tips that will help you cultivate better posture habits and build muscle strength and flexibility:
1.Audit Your Posture Everyday: Start each day by paying attention to you spine and your posture. Stand in front of a mirror, distribute your weight evenly on both feet and check to see if your shoulders are too hunched or drawn up. Is your head tilting to one side? Note that the stomach gets pulled in and the neck doesn’t droop forward.
2. Posture Tips While Standing: When at ease, you should feel no tension or pull along your shoulders, neck, pelvis or knees. Keep this in mind as you go through your day. When you get up for a break, stretch a bit and take a few deep breaths. Let your shoulders loosen up. If most of your work is done standing up, try not to rest your weight on just one foot. Keep your feet slightly apart and distribute your weight equally. Or place a box in front of you, slightly larger than a shoe box, and rest one foot on it at regular intervals. This takes the stress of your back for a while.
3. Posture Tips While Sitting: In the office, get yourself a proper chair that gives your back enough support. Uncross your legs, or you would be tilting to one side for hours without realizing it.
4. Quick 3 Second Posture Hack: Every few minutes roll up your shoulders till they almost touch your ears. Combine this quick exercise with a short routine in which you bring your elbows to touch each other.
5. Fix Your Posture And Build Strength With Yoga Focus on strengthening your abdomen, lower back, hips and buttocks. Yoga is good for flexibility and strength. Especially the posture called, “The Plank Pose”. It’s easy to do and there are many variations. Here is a 2 minute youtube video of it:
6. Lift Weight To Build Strength Go to the gym and start lifting weights to build your strength and fix your posture. Three great exercises that help in good posture are:
Chocolate Cheesecake with Strawberry Sauce & Blackberries
Cacao Power
Raw Chocolate Nibs – a Review
When I was a kid, I remember trying powered chocolate from the tin my mom used to make chocolate cake. After all, it smelled so good. But after just one bitter taste, I was cured of that false impression.
So, when I heard about raw chocolate nibs being healthy, I was pretty skeptical. But, being pretty open to trying new things, I finally relented and purchased a pound of Cacao Power. Frankly, my first impression upon taking a bite wasn’t favorable. The taste wasn’t really bitter, just kind of bland. But before sending it back for a refund, I decided to experiment… my favorite thing to do in the kitchen.
I tried these nut-like raw chocolate nibs in
Homemade muffins – didn’t seem to add much flavor inside, but were great as a topping.
On a salad – OK, but boring
With butter and honey on bread – a great after dinner snack
On a peanut butter sandwich – terrific when I don’t have time to make a lunch
And in some plain yogurt – surprisingly good even with no honey. A quick delicious & nutritious breakfast I can eat at my desk.
In pancake batter – yummy
Why all the fuss about raw chocolate?
Turns out chocolate has many healthy benefits:
More anti-oxidant power than blueberries, red wine, or
green tea
Helps lower blood pressure
Reduces the risk of strokes and heart disease because of natural phytochemicals called flavanoids
A natural depression fighter because its high in tryptophan, the precursor for serotonin
Raw chocolate nibs are full of vitamins, minerals, beta-carotene, zinc, chromium and magnesium
Recent studies say it’s better than Viagra!
So, if you’d like to enjoy your chocolate without the guilt, you’ll find a certified organic source at Navitas Naturals or you can save some money at Vitacost.
They also offer this natural chocolate in a powder, but that kind of takes all the fun out of it. Of course, if you want to make some healthy brownies by adding chia seeds, you’ll want the powdered chocolate nibs.
Now I figure 99% of you would never spend a dollar for a piece of chocolate even if it was healthy, but one thing I’ve come to know – never underestimate what appeals to people, especially if it’s better than Viagra – Chi Chocolate.
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